Page 19 - NRH FY20 Approved Budget

• Currently a Municipal Court clerk position is vacant. Under this reduced funding scenario
we would freeze this position and refill it with a part-time employee. $36,211
• One of the positions that was funded through the Traffic Safety Fund (red light cameras)
was a police officer. This position reviewed red light violations, but they also performed
other traffic enforcement duties. This cut would eliminate this position which would
essentially result in a reduction of staffing for the Patrol Division. As you recall we added
two positions last year in order to address a growing call volume. This reduction would
be accomplished by freezing a vacant position. $109,704

Tarrant Appraisal District information states that the average taxable value for an NRH residence
in 2019 is $200,761. This is a 9.2% increase over the taxable average of $184,000 for 2018.
The taxable average takes into account the 15% Homestead Exemption, the $36,000
Senior/Disabled Exemption and the Senior Tax Freeze which affects over 25% of NRH
residents. For the average NRH residence the adopted tax rate in the adopted budget will cost
an additional $72.61 per year. Under the 3.5% tax cap that goes into effect next year this
increase would be limited to $44.60. Implementing all of the cuts listed above would save the
average home owner around $28 for the year.

General Fund Summary

In summary the General Fund Adopted Budget for FY 2019/2020 requests $1,943,398 more in
expenditures over the FY 2018/2019 Budget, an increase of 4%. Most of this increase comes
in the form of compensation adjustments and increased health insurance costs. The
remainder of the increase is related to full year funding of the 6 firefighters and 2 police officers
that were added in the middle of FY 2018/2019, plus the additional staffing costs that had been
previously paid from red light camera revenues. The lack of growth in revenues outside of
property taxes does not allow for the addition of any programs or services over the next year.
As we face property tax caps beginning next year, it will be even more challenging to add
services and more of a challenge just to retain the services that we already have.

Utility Fund

The Utility Fund faces two issues that would present challenges to any business. The cost of
supplies continues to rise and sales continue to decline. As a result the Utility Fund has had to
dip into reserves in recent years. A notable exception was last year when we only received ¼
of an inch of rain from the middle of June until the middle of July. In addition we received a
“settle up” from the Trinity River Authority that was much higher than is typical. Water
consumption figures increased to the point that many people believed that their meters were
malfunctioning. We can certainly sympathize because the meters measuring the amount of
water brought into our distribution system were also reflecting significantly higher consumption
amounts.

The increase in supply costs comes from higher prices assessed for water and wastewater
treatment by our two providers, the City of Fort Worth and the Trinity River Authority. Our water
providers attribute the higher water costs to the expense of pulling water from farther distances
to meet regional demands and increased treatment costs. Sewer charges are increasing,

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